In the Spirit of the Season
by EmbracingRain
Summary: Chad, always determined to prove Sonny wrong, takes it upon himself to prove to her that he's not a scrooge. Oh, and to give her the best Christmas she's ever had. But that's just a side project. Sonny/Chad.
1. Scrooge's Resolution

Just a little five chapter Christmas bit that popped into my head at three in the morning. C: I hope you guys enjoy it!

Summary: Sonny's usual C-themed Christmas in Wisconsin isn't going to happen this year. Chad thinks he can make up for that with a CDC-themed Christmas in California.

* * *

_In the Spirit of the Season_

EmbracingRain

* * *

Chapter One

Scrooge's Resolution

* * *

Sony Munroe missed Wisconsin. There was nothing like a white Christmas spent with her entire family. Christmas carols, cocoa, cookies… The Munroes always went all out, and Sonny missed the C-themed Christmas things with something akin to desperation. Instead of a cozy Christmas at her grandma's house and opening presents in front of a crackling fireplace, she was spending the last few days before her favorite day of the year wearing a hideously tacky Christmas sweater for a sketch that Marshall wanted to film last second (the holiday episode of _So Random!_ wasn't going to be live this year. None of the kids wanted to work on Christmas day). What with her friends leaving to go on fantastic trips to different countries and her own mom away on business until New Year's, it was no wonder she was feeling blue. She was by herself this year.

"Cut!"

Sonny groaned as Marshall's voice cut across the set. Tawni stopped mid-sentence and Grady almost fell off the ladder he was perched precariously on, tree topper in hand. Zora sighed and chucked a cookie at Nico's head. He glowered darkly at her.

"You kids aren't giving me excitement! I need Christmas spirit and holiday cheer! Where's your Christmas spirit?"

"You've had us doing this sketch for _two hours_ now, Marhsall," Tawni whined. "I've been wearing this ugly, itchy sweater for two hours, and you gave me a monologue that isn't even funny!"

"I don't even celebrate Christmas," Zora chimed in, raising her hand as though she were in school. "At least, not in December."

"The stupid star keeps cutting my hand," Grady added as Nico put in his two cents with, "I've been sitting on the floor so long I can't feel my butt!"

As the complaints continued to spew from her friends' mouths, Sonny stayed silent in her corner, playing with the shiny bow on her character's present and wishing herself stuck in the midst of a Christmas day snowball fight with her cousins and her friends. She could almost feel the bite of the wind on her cheeks and her nose, could practically feel her fingers freezing at she hurled the little spheres of white powder at her giggling loved ones.

"Look, just give me one solid take, okay? After that, you can go home," Marshall wheedled. "I promise."

Three hours, six "soft" takes, and (at last) one solid take later found Sonny finally stripping herself of the hideous sweater and hurrying into her street clothes. Tawni was giggling about her Christmas in a French chateau to one of her friends over the phone, but still wiggled her fingers at Sonny as the brunette made to leave the room.

"Have a good Christmas, Sonny!"

"You too, Tawn," Sonny replied with a small smile. She'd already said goodbye to the others, now she just had to go home and sit on her couch in her pajamas, stuffing her face with Oreos until her mom finally came home.

She was walking sullenly down the hallway when, seemingly out of nowhere, Chad showed up by her side. Sonny looked at him out of the corner of her eye, the only signal she was willing to give that she'd noticed him. They walked in silence for a few moments before Chad appeared to have gotten fed up with the fact that nobody was talking.

"What's wrong with you, Munroe?" he asked, sounding like he didn't care at all.

Sonny sighed, not at all in the mood to put up with his attitude. "Christmas," she said shortly, hoping he would take her response and leave it at that.

"I'm not such a big fan either," Chad said, reaching around her to pull open the door to the parking lot. As he did, she looked up at him, both impressed and shocked. Impressed because he was holding the door open for her, shocked because he hated Christmas.

"I don't hate Christmas, Chad."

"Really? I mean, you strike me as the kind of person who would hate the fact that Christmas is so commercialized. You realize they started showing Christmas commercials even before Halloween this year? The malls are crowded, kids get cranky…"

Sonny frowned as they began walking across the parking lot. "The way I feel has nothing to do with that aspect of Christmas. My mom's out of town, alright? And I can't get a flight out to Wisconsin no matter what I do. Every year, we have a C-themed Christmas at my grandma's house, but this year I'm missing everything! Christmas carols, cookie decorating, cocoa…" She shrugged, kicking a pebble across the lot. "I'm just not in the mood for Christmas right now."

"You _miss_ that?" Chad asked her, sounding incredulous.

Fishing her car keys out of her purse and pausing by her car door, Sonny looked up at Chad with a frown. "Yeah, I do. But it's nice to know that you're a scrooge, Chad." She opened the door and tossed her purse over to the passenger's seat.

"I'm not a scrooge!" Chad exclaimed. "I just hate how commercialized Christmas is. It's insane! But that doesn't mean I'm a scrooge, Munroe."

"Then prove it," Sonny challenged, stepping into her car.

"Fine! I will."

"Pffft! Yeah, right," Sonny snorted, slamming the door shut and driving away.

Chad watched her car disappear, coming to the decision that if Sonny was of the opinion that he was a scrooge and if she was so intent on having a blue Christmas, then it was up to him to change it. Who needed C-themed Christmases in Wisconsin when they could have a CDC-themed Christmas in California?

* * *

Next time…

_She turned around to see Chad grinning at her with a boyish innocence she didn't quite believe._

Chad puts his plan into action, on a mission to prove to Sonny that he's not a scrooge and Christmases aren't always best in Wisconsin.

Don't worry, I'm still working on _Four Seasons!_ I'll have the next chapter up soon and I'll also have the next chapter of this story up soon, too. C:

-EmbracingRain


	2. The Lakeshore Strangler and Houdini

So here's chapter two! C: I hope you guys enjoy it!

Summary: Sonny's usual C-themed Christmas in Wisconsin isn't going to happen this year. Chad thinks he can make up for that with a CDC-themed Christmas in California.

* * *

_In the Spirit of the Season_

EmbracingRain

* * *

Chapter Two

The Lakeshore Strangler and Houdini

* * *

_BambambambamBAMBAMBAM._

Sonny sat up in bed, confused, her hair sticking up at all sorts of odd angles, and her eyes half-lidded with sleep. Her first thought was that somebody was trying to break into her apartment and she leaped out of bed, grabbing a stiletto high heel off of her floor, immediately awake at the thought of the possible threat. The banging continued as she crept out of her bedroom and into the family room, warily approaching the door. The piece of wood seemed to be rattling in the frame.

Preparing to attack whoever was at the door, Sonny unlocked it and threw it open with a loud, terrifying yell as she swung her shoe forward. The blonde on the other side of the door screamed and threw himself to the ground as Sonny attempted to attack him.

"OH MY GOD, MUNROE! IT'S _ME!_"

Breathing heavily, Sonny took a step back in order to let her so-called "attacker" up off the floor. He had his hands covering his head, but Sonny would know that perfect blonde hair anywhere. "Chad?" she gasped, trying to catch her breath. People were poking their heads out their doors and staring at Sonny, but she paid them no mind.

Chad scrambled up off the floor, staring at the brunette with wide blue eyes as he dusted off his leather jacket. "No! It's the fucking Lakeshore Strangler, Munroe!" he exclaimed. His chest was heaving and he still looked like he would've wet his pants had Sonny screamed any louder when she'd opened the door. "God! Do you _always _answer your door like that in the morning?"

"Only when I think somebody's breaking in!"

"Is everything alright, Miss Munroe?" one of Sonny's neighbors called down the hallway. He had a golf club in his hand and looked quite menacing for a dentist who could hardly stand to pull teeth.

"Everything's fine, Dr. Barclay," Sonny replied with a strained smile. "Chad and I work together at Condor Studios. We…scare each other all the time. No worries! Sorry to disturb you all!" Laughing forcefully, Sonny pulled Chad into her apartment and waved goodbye to all her neighbors. When the door was shut, Sonny whipped around to face Chad with her hands on her hips. "Why on _Earth_ are you here, Chad?"

"You called me a scrooge yesterday."

"So? You couldn't call me to complain about that? You had to show up at my house and make all my neighbors think I was being murdered?"

"To be fair," Chad shot back, "I _did_ call you. Several times. But you never answered your stupid mooing cell phone."

Sonny rolled her eyes and flopped down on her couch. "That still doesn't tell me what you're doing at my apartment, genius."

"You told me to prove you wrong."

"And you took me seriously?!"

Chad paused, looking unsure. "Was I not supposed to…? You know what? Never mind. Just go put on some clothes. Jeans and a sweatshirt or something. You and I have somewhere we need to be in about twenty minutes."

Sonny eyed him skeptically. "You weren't supposed to take that scrooge comment seriously, Chad. I was just in a bad mood; I didn't mean it. I know you don't hate Christmas."

"Well, I'm still gonna prove to you that you don't need to have some ridiculous C-themed Christmas in Wisconsin to have a good Christmas. In fact, a CDC-themed Christmas in California will be the best Christmas you've ever had."

"I doubt that."

"Just go put on some clothes, Munroe!"

* * *

"Are your eyes closed?"

"Even if they weren't, Chad, I still wouldn't be able to see. You've got your hands over my eyes," Sonny told him dryly. "Where are we and why does this feel ominous?"

"Would you just trust me for once?" Chad asked rhetorically. He halted Sonny in her unsure tracks, hands sliding from her closed eyes down to her hips. "On the count of three, you can open your eyes," he murmured in her ear. "One…"

She could smell his mint-flavored gum and some sort of manly-man cologne that he was wearing as he stood behind her. His voice was low and velvety in her ear.

"Two…"

She guessed he'd stepped away from her a little bit. His voice seemed a tad more distant and the smell of his cologne was gone.

"Three.." His hands slipped away from her waist slowly.

Sonny knew she was supposed to open her eyes, but she left them closed for a few moments, storing the memory of Chad's hands on her waist and the smell of his cologne in her mind. As annoying as he was and as much of a pain in the ass he could be, Chad still had his moments. And those moments were enough to make any girl (_any_ girl) keep a little flickering flame of hope in one of the deepest recesses of her heart.

When she finally opened her eyes, it was to see a winter wonderland of a park. Snow frosted over the swing sets and billowed across the once-grassy fields in mounds of varying heights. The soft, white powder glittered like an ocean of diamonds underneath the California sun. Snow was such an improbability here, that Sonny almost couldn't believe her eyes. But given that Chad seemed so dead set on proving her wrong…

Sonny was admiring the scene when something icy and cold smacked her on the side of her head and then slid down the collar of her royal purple hoodie. The frozen liquid made her gasp as it caressed her skin and she turned around to see Chad grinning at her with a boyish innocence she didn't quite believe.

"Did you just throw a snowball at my head?"

"Who, me?" Chad scoffed. "Nah."

Sonny stooped to scoop up a handful of snow and began packing it together. "That's funny. I don't believe you." She tossed the ball of snow up in the air and caught it gently. "I think that deserves some payback."

Chad began to back away, looking at her warily. "Sonny, what are you doing with that? No! Don't throw it at me! Sonny, stop! No, no, no, no, no! Watch the…" The snowball, perfectly round and packed together tightly, sparkling in the sun as in arched through the air, landed right on top of Chad's head, bursting as it made contact. "Hair." The actor glowered at her from beneath his bangs. "Oh, you're on, Munroe," he growled.

Sonny giggled as she dodged the next snowball Chad hurled her way then threw another one back at him, hitting him square in the chest. Little white spheres soared through the air gracefully as the mostly-friends-sometimes-enemies laughed, threw, dodged, and ducked, sometimes getting hit with one of the icy orbs.

An hour or so later when the snow had begun to melt found the pair of actors tripping merrily out of the park, dusted with snow and grinning widely, their cheeks red from the cold substance. Sonny linked her arm with Chad's as they strolled down the empty sidewalks, feeling happier than she had in days. Chad was actually _fun_ when he wasn't around his _Mackenzie Falls_ posse.

"Are you up for some hot chocolate?" Chad asked as they approached his car.

Sonny hesitated, biting her lower lip. "I don't have any money."

"It's on me," Chad assured her, opening her door. Before she could protest, he cut her off. "It's no big deal. Really. I know this great place just a few blocks away. I think you'll really like it."

Still somewhat unsure, Sonny shyly agreed and allowed Chad to help her into the car, ignoring the way her stomach knotted up in an obscenely wonderful way when his hand brushed over hers. They were friends. Friends and that was it. Sometimes that wasn't _even_ it. But, for now, they were friends.

* * *

"This is the best hot chocolate money can buy," Chad declared as the waiter walked away. He grinned widely at Sonny who smiled softly back. She hated to admit it, but she was kind of impressed by the small, independent coffeehouse they were at. She'd been expecting Chad to take her to a Starbucks or a Caribou Coffee, not some little hole-in-the-wall place with an awesome indie vibe. He definitely seemed like the chain coffeehouse type.

"So this was your plan?" Sonny queried as she studied Chad's face. "A snowball fight and hot chocolate at a little café? C'mon, Chad. I thought you were upset about the scrooge comment."

Chad had the good grace to chuckle. "Don't worry, Sonny-girl. I've got more up my sleeve."

Sonny raised an eyebrow, about to comment on both the nickname and the fact that Chad had more stuff planned, but she didn't get the chance. The waiter arrived back at the table with their hot chocolates. Both teens murmured their thanks.

"Go ahead," Chad said, gesturing for Sonny to take a drink first. She did so, delightfully surprised at the sweetness of the hot drink. "Well?"

Sonny smiled graciously. "Definitely some of the best non-homemade hot chocolate I've ever had. Kudos, Chad."

He smiled at her. "Thanks."

Sonny took a few more sips of her drink before curiosity finally got to her. "So how did you pull it off?"

Chad looked bewildered. "What? The hot chocolate? The guy came over here and I just ordered it. Nothing especially secret about that…"

Sonny snorted. "No, I'm talking about the snow. How did you pull it off?" she asked again.

"Ah," Chad said with a smirk. He took a drink from his mug before setting it back on the table and leaning against the back of the booth. "Sorry, but Houdini never revealed his secrets and neither will I."

"Chad, Houdini was a magician."

"What's your point, Sonny?"

"You're not a magician, Chad."

"That's what you think."

Sonny stared at him with one eyebrow raised, silently but staunchly refusing to let the subject go. Chad finally gave in with a groan and she smiled triumphantly.

"I've got a cousin who works the snow machines and stuff for big budget films. I talked him into bringing one down to the park. Happy now that all the magic is gone?"

"That's really sweet, Chad."

Chad scoffed. "There's nothing sweet about it, Munroe," he said gruffly, staring at his drink. "All I'm doing is trying to prove you wrong."

* * *

"My family and I used to do this every year when I was little," Chad confided to Sonny as they walked slowly down the streets of a housing development. "Once I got the part on the _Falls_, though, we kind of just stopped. I guess none of us really had the time for it anymore. It kind of struck me as something you might like to do," he said, avoiding Sonny's eyes.

The houses along the streets in this neighborhood were all decked out for Christmas, the thousands of colorful lights glitzy and dream-like against the black, starless backdrop of the night. Sonny had had no idea that Chad could be such a simplistic person. She'd had no idea what to expect when he'd dropped her off at her apartment just before lunch and said he'd be back around eight, but what he called "light-seeing" was a pleasant surprise.

"I have to say, Chad," Sonny told him as they passed a house with light-up snowflakes hanging from its trees, "it's nice to see this side of you. It's nice to know that you're not the materialistic jerk you let everyone think you are."

"The media gave me that image, Sonny. My manager told me to run with it and I did," he said bitterly. "I'm not all bad, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Sonny said simply. "But it's not like people would hate you if you proved them wrong. The only time I see you like this is when it's you and me and nobody else."

There was a slight pause as they rounded a corner, but Chad finally spoke up again. "It's easier with you," he said, his voice soft.

Sonny could tell he didn't want a response, so she didn't give him one. Instead, she left him to his thoughts, enjoying this moment with him. Sure, this wasn't her usual Christmas in Wisconsin, but Chad was trying. And this wasn't so bad. In fact, she was kind of starting to enjoy herself more than she thought she was going to.

* * *

Everybody knows who Houdini is, right? Good. As for the Lakeshore Strangler, that's a reference to the eighties horror film _Child's Play_. Dr. Barclay, the dentist who lives down the hall from Sonny, is named after Andy Barclay, the protagonist of the same movie.

The little coffeehouse they go to is based off one in the town I live in. It's got this fantastic vibe and a cozy, hole-in-the-wall atmosphere. Plus, they sell you a large hot chocolate for like a buck ninety. You get whipped cream on top of it and everything. Best hot chocolate money can buy, I _swear_.

**The official song for this story is "I'd Rather Be With You" by Joshua Radin.** I was listening to it on repeat as I wrote this chapter and it fit these scenes so well and just set the tone for the rest of the story. Check it out on YouTube. I could totally see Sonny and Chad sitting in the café and that song being on super low in the background.

Up next…

"_So is that real?" Chad asked Sonny._

_She looked at him sharply. "_Excuse_ me?"_

Chad continues on his quest, but can't quite come to terms with why he's so obsessed with it yet.

Please review!

-EmbracingRain


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